KETO DIET: WEEK 1 RESULTS

Hooray! The hubs and I started the Keto Diet (Ketogenic Diet) just 1 week ago and we are super loving it right now. Here’s why the Keto way of life is rocking our world (in the best way) this week.

First, the disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist or expert in the field of the health, nutrition or the ketogenic diet. This post contains affiliate links.* This post was updated Nov. 2018.

WHY GO KETO?

Since I’m going to be posting weekly, I created a page that covers off why we started eating the Keto way, what we think we’ll accomplish and links to all of the recaps I created. You can access that here.

Moving forward, I’ll share a video recap at the end of each week along with a little overview of what we ate, my results, feelings, pros, cons, and everything in between. Since this week is the first, it’s a little heavier (info wise).

Let’s do it!

We calculated our macros and I planned out our meals for the week (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). It was an undertaking but well worth it to stay on track.

Sunday: I’ll share this next week since I meal prep Sunday – Saturday.

SNACKS

We planned out our macros so well, that we didn’t have too much room for snacks. And, we didn’t feel like we really needed them (for the most part). We cooked up a bunch of bacon (my hubs actually made some every morning), split it between us and noshed on that if we felt like we needed something.

We also had a few of those deli snacks on hand (mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto or salami) and ate em’ if needed.

DRINKS

Water. So. Much. Water. We drank about a gallon and a 1/2 of water per day. And peed non-stop. It’s part of the process!

Coffee. We drank 1-2 cups of coffee per day and made sure to add fats to it (coconut oil and butter)

Electrolytes. I tried to drink plain water as much as possible. I had Keto flu (see below) so when I was feeling like I needed it, I’d drop a sugar-free powdered electrolyte drink mix and drink that (these ones are SO good). The hubs drank a mix of plain water and MIO spiked water. He did not get Keto flu.

Listen to your body and eat when hungry. No need to overeat or hold back on your fats. If you feel starving or are craving something, but you aren’t hungry – drink more water. It will pass.

Meal prep. We meal prepped all of the meets on Sunday, as well as the cheesy taco cups and keto lasagna. Every day we had minimal prep, which made eating easy.

Also – this Fairy Tale Fruit gum was a lifesaver for me when it came to all the new tastes in my mouth. I barely ate it, but when I was going out I felt self-conscious about my breath and would pop a piece. Maybe 1 piece per day, if that. Super fruity (in contrast to all the salt!) and the flavor lasts forever.

SHOPPING LIST

There’s not too much you need to purchase ahead of time to get started, but I’ll include a list of the things we are using here to make it super easy.

Collagen Protein: A lot of keto dieters use collagen protein to maintain healthy skin, hair and nails (its also great for workout recovery, protecting your cartilage and bones). Naked Collagen is grass fed, tasteless and contains only one ingredient! Super clean and free of all the nasty stuff you don’t want to be sticking in your body!

Keto Test Strips: These are great for the first few weeks to test your ketones and ensure you’re body is doing what it should (AKA, you’re in ketosis). We like these ones.

Magnesium Supplements: I’m not a huge supplement taker, but these have SAVED. MY. LIFE. As I mention below, I suffered terrible cramping and restless leg, common for low carb dieters (especially in the beginning). These ones immediately took them away. I take one before bed and that’s all I need.

Digital Scale and Tape Measure: If you don’t have one, you’ll want one. At least for the beginning. I can’t stress how much it helps to measure your results. You may not see immediate changes in weight but will notice changes in your body measurements. So, I always do both. This scale is under $20 bucks and it comes with a body tape measure. Done and done!

Meal Delivery: Since meal prepping can be super time consuming, we lean to meal delivery services to supplement super hectic weeks. Factor 75 (get $20 bucks off your first order with my link), Keto Fridge and Metabolic Meals all carry ketogenic meal choices. We’ve tried them all and have nothing but good things to report!

WHAT WE FELT

I am tracking pretty much everything because I’m not just utilizing the Keto Diet for weight loss, I’m also trying to use it as a tool to alleviate my perimenopause symptoms (more on that here). So, I’ve got a lot of info here. Plus, week 1 you just have no clue what to expect, so I wanted to try to understand my body as best I could.

Note – I did not work out during week 1 in order to understand my results better (I have a 4-year-old though, so I basically never sat down).

Day 1: As a sugar-carb-a-holic, I thought that it was going to be miserable. It was actually super easy (the hubs had a bit more of a hard time with the mindset than I did). I felt great energy wise, although I was starving by 3 pm and that lasted through around 6 pm. I drank water and that helped. Peed like crazy. I had a salty taste in my mouth once the evening hit and also started experiencing a muscle spasm in my thigh.

Day 2: Woke up with super dry hands, which I never, ever have. I was down 1 pound and the hubs was down 2!. I had a light headache, but the worst part was that my coffee tasted like cigarette butts. I couldn’t drink it. I felt a lot more energy-depleted on Day 2, and the throbbing thigh cramps kicked back in around 10 am. Not long after that, I started feeling super sleepy and my eyesight became a bit “fuzzy”. I made sure I drank plenty of sugar-free electrolyte drink and upped the salt, big time. The salty taste came back in the pm, along with this super lazy, loopy, almost stoned feeling. I was literally giggling! I ended the night with some bloat, that kinda felt like period-bloat. Tested positive for ketosis on these keto test strips. That was fast!

Day 3: Woke up and felt dry everywhere! My mouth, eyes, skin, hair..everything. I had been drinking over a gallon of water each day, but still felt this incredible dry feeling. I had an incredible headache, which I think was part sugar-carb detox, part “I didn’t drink any coffee” yesterday. My muscles ached all over like I had done a really intense workout – but, coffee was back to its normal taste and it was glorious! A headache went to a dull headache after coffee, also the bloat was gone and hunger pains started to subside. By day’s end, my energy and mood were AWESOME. Sky high on happy. Buuuuut, I started experiencing RSL (restless leg). We took a 250 mg Magnesium supplement before bed to help with the electrolyte imbalance and hopefully, the RSL.

Day 4: Woke up after the 2nd night of insomnia. Had bad leg cramps and pins and needles. Down 3 lbs! My hands continued to be dry, but no headache. Sore muscles continued but my energy was awesome. Felt energetic and totally happy! Started taking a scoop of collagen protein in my coffee in the a.m. to help keep my hair, bones, nails, etc. happy during this process! By the end of the night, I had a bit of reflux and felt pretty full. Was super tired by 9 pm and started experiencing RSL again. Took 500 mg of Magnesium before bed. I should note that bathroom trips (other than peeing) were not normal during these first few days. I pretty much didn’t go.

Day 5: Down another 1.5 pounds! Was not thrilled with the 500mg magnesium from the night before. Woke up in the middle of the night and felt really weird (like someone put bricks in my skin. Felt super heavy if that makes sense). The salty taste is back, but coffee still tastes magical. Felt woozy around 9 am, but ate some bacon and drank electrolytes and that did it. I was feeling like I was starting to understand my body in this process (and better than before this process) which felt pretty cool. Felt a bit weepy and cranky and by the evening leg cramps were back. Ate a mini spinach salad with EVOO for extra potassium before bed and popped a 250mg magnesium.

Day 6: Slept awesome last night – finally! Woke up to cramps in my legs, feeling irritable. Up almost a lb, but I was just about to ovulate and usually gain around 5 pounds around this time, so I’m super-winning on keto. Slight headache was back and belly felt super full so eating and drinking were hard today. No leg cramps at bedtime though. Wahoo!

Day 7. Woke up happy with tons of energy! Cleaned and danced around the house and felt way less irritable which is totally not like I usually am around ovulation time (yey!). Felt very full after breakfast and had a hard time eating. Realized by days end it was the collagen protein I had been dropping in my coffee the past couple of days was killing my stomach. So I stopped taking it and felt much better. Back down 4 lbs and fell asleep quickly. Awesome end to an interesting week!

KETO DIET WEEK 1 RESULTS

Weight – down 4 lbs (hubs is down 8!)

Inches – didn’t measure in week 1. Will measure at the end of week 2.

Other

Rosacea: Skin is dry, but oddly, not affecting my Rosacea at all. That is doing awesome! I use Purlisse Products for my daily skincare regimen and they have been pure magic.

Perimenopausal Symptoms: Since perimenopause started I would get wicked (like evil) around ovulation time). Week 1 on keto fell between CD8 and CD12, also known as “crazy town” or pre-ovulation. While I had a few “moments”, I felt better overall, less moody and much happier. I also typically gain 5 lbs every single month at this time. This cycle? I lost 4. There was almost zero bloat. I can’t remember the last time I experienced that. I could cry just thinking about how awesome it felt.

That’s all folks! Check back next week for my Week 2 results. In the meantime, check out what my kid did to me the other day. What a weirdo.

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*DISCLAIMER: This post is a combination of my personal insights, opinions and thoughts on various topics and products and may contain affiliate or referral links. I earn a small commission if you make a purchase through my links, which helps me continue on this fabulous journey of blogging! Full disclaimers avail. here.

I am not a nutritionist or expert in the field of the health, nutrition or the ketogenic diet. I am simply learning to live a keto lifestyle and am sharing what I’ve learned along the way based on my personal opinion. I encourage anyone wishing to start a keto diet, to do their own research in order to make a sound decision about their own personal health.

Oh, I’ll have to look into the gum from TJ’s! I just went there and loaded up on Everything But the Bagel Seasoning!
The unicorn gum is SO good. It’s super fruity – which I never liked prior to keto, but for some reason now, it tastes like heaven!